“You may be a long way from us physically and geographically, but you are not more than a prayer and a heartbeat away from our affection and our admiration,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told priesthood leaders in a priesthood leadership conference held in New Delhi, India, and telecast to locations in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

By coupling education with character and integrity, graduates can make great changes for good in the world. That was a common theme in commencement addresses delivered at four different institutions of higher learning by the President of the Church and by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Latter-day Saints will always be law-abiding citizens and good neighbors wherever they may live, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland reaffirmed during a visit with Latter-day Saints in the Middle East. Despite turbulent times in some areas, he said, Heavenly Father “watches over those who faithfully keep their covenants and strive to obey the gospel, here just as anywhere in the world.”

“Spiritual patterns are now and always have been important aids to discernment and sources of direction and protection for faithful Latter-day Saints,” Elder David A. Bednar said in an address at BYU’s Women’s Conference. “A powerful pattern the Lord uses to advance His work and to tutor Heavenly Father’s children upon the earth is . . . ‘by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.’”

The Spirit can guide us in all aspects of our life, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches. “I don’t think there’s any intent on the part of the Lord that we compartmentalize how the Spirit is used so that it’s only in purely religious areas,” he said.

“You will carry on your shoulders the future of the kingdom of God,” Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told young single adults. “We need you to catch the vision of what your roles will be 20 years from now.”